The painting a “Visual Concerto of Cygnus” was created after watching TVOs Big Ideas, a lecture by Don Kurtz on Stellar Seismology. Kurtz’s lecture entitled “Songs of the Stars: The Real Music of the Spheres” explains how sound waves are helping to locate distant Earth-like planets.

Fascinated with both the concept of discovery and the fact that stars can emit sound, this painting emerged. “Visual Concerto of Cygnus” incorporates a visual picture of the sound waves that have been captured of the stars, through CymaScope. The star sound waves are loosely arranged from the constellation of Cygnus. The constellation’s colourful background is in the shape of Kepler, and the final background resembles the outer space that we recognize with the naked eye.

The colour choices are based upon the concept that complementary colours when placed together create a visual vibration. The two target-style shapes make reference to the Montreal born artist Claude Tousignant and his paintings entitled “Gong” that explore shape, colour and a visual vibration based upon complementary colour combinations.

This painting would be best viewed as an installation, with the audio of the stars projected as either background noise or headphones placed beside the painting. The viewer would then be able to experience a mixing of both the visual and audio vibrations that this painting embodies. Furthermore, the YouTube video “Star Sound made visible with Cymatics” would inform and complement the visuals of this artwork.

As an artist, my desire to create is not limited to one medium. My formal training is specifically in the traditional mediums of drawing, painting, and darkroom photography. However, an ability to communicate a message or a vision of a creation can not be limited to one medium. I specifically discovered this in the final year of my BFA: I created an installation and sculpture exploring the issues and tensions in religion. I had never had an interest in sculpture previous to this project; however, sculpture was the best way to communicate my ideas. Consequently, as a high school art teacher, I continue to explore and experiment with many mediums: silkscreening, ceramics, woodworking, quilting, etc. My experimentation and willingness to always be learning, fosters artistic growth in myself and my students.